Woman on the Edge of Time

Connie recalls the first time she saw Luciente, who is a visitor from the future. She (though Connie currently believes that Luciente is a man) first appeared to Connie in dreams but then showed up in person one day when Connie was walking back to her apartment after visiting Dolly. She assumed that Luciente was on drugs because of her strange way of speaking and her insistence that she had been trying to contact Connie. She also found Luciente strange because she looks like an Indigenous person from Latin America but assured Connie that she is from nearby.

Connie’s own parents immigrated from Mexico to El Paso and then to Chicago. She was raised in an impoverished home by an abusive father and a downtrodden mother. She wanted to go to college, much to her mother’s dismay. Connie fondly remembers the two years she spent at the City University of New York as the secretary and mistress of a world languages professor who changed out Spanish-speaking mistresses every year. As she continued her journey to her apartment, she imagined how satisfying it would be to take revenge on him, thinking in despair of her current life and its narrow confines.

When Connie reached her home, Luciente appeared again and tried to speak with her. The two of them struggled to understand one another. Luciente was horrified to learn of the cancers caused by cigarettes and bad food and could not believe that people of Connie’s time do not compost. Connie was offended by her horror and reacted angrily. Luciente explained that Connie is a special person who can receive visions from the future and that Luciente was not physically present with her—only mentally. Connie scoffed at this, asking why Luciente would appear to someone like her. Luciente said that her own era has no interest in contacting politicians and that Connie is one of the few who can make contact. They were interrupted by Dolly banging on the door, asking to be let in.

Connie is locked into seclusion at Rockover. She panicked and fought against the tranquilizers that the staff forcibly administered, so the hospital drugged her and placed her in isolation. She remembers her last visit to Rockover. Claud had just died in prison, and she struggled with alcohol addiction and depression, neglecting Angelina. She believed that having a child was a mistake since the child would be doomed to poverty. In her despair and self-loathing, she hit Angelina, causing her to fall against the door and break her arm. Social services took her away permanently and committed Connie to Rockover.

Her reverie is broken when Luciente appears again. Luciente asks Connie where she is and why she is so sad, and Connie explains about Rockover. Luciente is shocked and says that in her own world, psychiatric hospitals are “[o]pen to the air and pleasant” (65). They are considered a normal part of life and a place where someone might go to regroup or heal without stigma. She is appalled that Connie is imprisoned and invites her for a short visit to her own village. She puts her arms around her, and Connie is shocked to realize that Luciente is female. She assumed that Luciente was male because Luciente does not conform to 1970s female gender roles. Luciente, in turn, is surprised that Connie didn’t know that she is female.

The two journey to Mattapoisett, Luciente’s community. It is rural and not impressive to Connie, who thinks it looks like a Mexican village and not a futuristic world. Luciente explains that the town has machines and solar energy, but its society is not centered around technology; its residents prefer to be close to nature. One such machine is the “kenner,” a wristwatch/computer that Luciente consults for information. The village is a communal organization. Everyone has a job, and items such as food and clothing are shared. Children have “comothers” who can be male or female and raise them until they undergo a naming ritual at 13 and become adults. People have sexual relations freely with one another and are polyamorous. They use the pronoun “per,” short for “person,” in place of “he” or “she.”

Connie goes to lunch and meets Jackrabbit, one of Luciente’s lovers, as well as some other villagers. They marvel at her, and she finds them and their ways strange. She wakes up abruptly back in the ward.

Time passes slowly in the ward. Connie is surprised and happy when an old friend from a prior stay arrives—Sybil. Sybil is a tall and imposing white woman who believes that she is a witch and helps women leave their husbands. She and Connie resume their friendship.

A new doctor, Redding, arrives on the ward and selects Connie for his program. She is interviewed and moved to an open ward, G-2, along with the other subjects of his experimental treatment. Connie thinks of all the stories she knows of government experimentation on patients and worries that something bad will happen to her. She tells Sybil goodbye and asks her to be careful.

Connie sits on the porch outside the new ward, enjoying the small freedom of being outside. She feels Luciente’s presence for the first time since she was in isolation and speaks with her. She agrees to visit Luciente’s world again.

Luciente explains to her that her society uses rudimentary sign language to communicate with apes, cats, and some other animals. She also introduces Connie to Bee, who manages a machine they call the “brooder.” Bee and Luciente explain that all their society’s children are born through the use of technology. This allows the community to maintain a diverse gene pool and have citizens of many different ethnicities. Bee explains, “But we broke the bond between genes and culture, broke it forever. We want there to be no chance of racism again” (108). Connie is horrified by the brooder and the idea that women no longer give birth. She thinks of her own beloved daughter, taken from her by the state. She believes that by ending pregnancy and labor, the future has taken away the one meaningful thing available to women. She breaks away from Luciente’s world and finds herself, furious, back in her own world. She thinks that she hates Luciente and the future world.